The meal was silent, though Kip watched all three of them unabashedly. Jenna found his penetrating gaze unnerving and focused on her food. Why had Kip decided to help them? He could have just told them to go away if he was as wary of visitors as he said. Lenata didn’t say anything either, though Jenna noticed her eyes flicked to Kendra as often as they were on her food. What did Lenata want with Kendra? Had her conscience just rebelled at turning a little girl over to a sadistic deviant? Or was there something more?
Jenna’s neck prickled. No part of her felt good about following Lenata off into the jungle again. There had to be some way she could talk Kip into taking them to whatever the nearest settlement was, even if it was two thousand kilometers away. Surely he had some form of transportation. How else did he managed his supply runs? Maybe she could offer to pay him. There had to be something she could negotiate with. Perhaps a promise of money when she made it home?
An hour later, she sat cross-legged on a thin cushioned mat with Kendra in front of her, and she tried to gently pick her way through the tangles in her daughter’s long hair. She’d had her shower—with Kendra crammed in as well—and now both of them wore clean shirts that belonged to Kip. Jenna had on a plain cotton shirt that fell past her hips along with a pair of thin drawstring pants cinched tight at her waist. Kendra’s cotton shirt was huge on her; she’d pulled her arms and knees all the way inside it like a turtle withdrawing into a shell. Kip had taken their muddy clothes and promised to have them laundered and ready in a few hours. Then he gave them the mat and showed them into his office. It was another tiny room, but there was enough clear space on the floor for both of them to stretch out in here. The room held a shelf of books—honest to goodness paper books—and a large desk with a terminal screen and keyboard. Tacked on the walls were printouts of various graphs and photos of mysterious shadowed figures haloed by bursts of blood-red light. Kip had strange tastes.
Kendra kept yawning hugely, even though periodically she winced when Jenna pulled at a stubborn knot in her hair. According to the glowing clock on Kip’s wall, it was almost midnight. Jenna felt as if she had been awake for two days straight. She needed to rest, and so did Kendra. Were they safe enough to do it here? Lenata was in the shower herself, and who knew where Kip was. But there was no alternative. She couldn’t stay awake much longer, not now that she was clean and her stomach was filled. Finally she finished combing out Kendra’s hair and laid down on the mat. Her daughter curled up next to her. “Mommy?” she asked sleepily, her voice muffled. “Where are Erik and Berry? Do you think Daddy has found them yet?”
“I hope so, honey,” she said.
“Do you think Daddy will find us?”
“Yes, we’ll find way to get word to him.” Jenna kept her tone upbeat.
“Good,” Kendra murmured, “because Dina’s afraid of the village . . .” Her voice trailed off.
Jenna hugged her tightly. “We’re going to be fine, Kendra,” Jenna whispered, finally allowing her own eyes to close. “I promise.”
26. Ransom Demand
The ransom demand arrived just after Zane had made it to his apartment at the end of a very long day. Security had received the demand by comm and contacted Zane immediately.
“Mr. Zane, they are offering to return the Forrest children in exchange for technical specs to the local gate,” the eager security officer reported. Zane’s mood immediately lifted. A lead! But then he mentally rebuked himself. Don’t get excited yet, he told himself. It’s too soon to know if this is real or another fake. Ever since they had gone public with the offer of a substantial reward for information leading to the recovery of Jenna and her kids, they had received dozens of useless tips daily. More than once there had also been a ransom demand from opportunists who thought they could bluff their way into receiving a substantial amount of senines without actually producing the missing Forrests. Misguided fools. They would regret that soon enough. His father had already issued the orders for reprisals when the conners were identified. This one, though—nobody had asked for the gate specs before. This might be real. Though the demand was ridiculous. Nobody was going to give the kidnappers the means to build their own local gate. Not even in return for the lives of the children.
“Was it a text comm? A live comm?” he asked, already grabbing his tablet and heading for the door of his apartment. He would head straight down to security.
“Text comm with attached vid. The vid shows a little girl and boy,” the officer explained. “I’m forwarding it to you now.”
“Great. Sit tight and wait for orders. This may be the real deal,” Zane said and switched off. The forwarded comm arrived, and he pulled it up. The text was basic and to the point: “Forrest children returned alive in exchange for complete specs to local interdimensional gate.” The vid that accompanied it was grainy, soundless, and short—only ten seconds long. It showed two children: a girl about five or six years old with dark brown curls and a toddler boy that he couldn’t get a good look at because he was facedown on the ground and kicking his legs. Hard to tell if they were Jenna and Jimmy’s kids or not. And where was the third one? One of the girls looked just like Jenna, if his memory was right. Jay Forrest had given him a photo of the kids to use as a reference—it only took him a couple of seconds to pull it up. He was right. The oldest daughter had long blonde hair, and she was clearly not in the vid. He studied the photo again and pulled up the vid. It was possible that the second daughter was the dark-haired girl in the vid. But there was just no way to confirm with the boy. He forwarded the photo back to security, requesting that a tech run a facial recognition program and see if they matched. In the meantime, he decided he’d better head over to Jay personally instead of running down to security. He would want to see this.
●●●
Jay Forrest’s personal bodyguard opened the door to the guest suite. “Mr. Forrest is resting,” the huge man said in a quiet voice. His suspicious eyes flicked up and down Zane’s body.
“I have a possible ransom demand for two of his grandchildren,” Zane explained, matching the low tone of the bodyguard. “There’s a vid, and I’m wondering if he can confirm for me that they actually are his grandchildren.”
The bodyguard stared at him for a long moment, his dark eyes expressionless. Finally he stepped aside and gestured at Zane to take one of the overstuffed chairs in the small sitting area. “Wait here,” he instructed, his voice neutral, before he soundlessly exited into the adjoining bedroom. The door slid shut with a soft snick, leaving Zane nothing to do but try and wait as patiently as he could.
Zane had to wait much longer than he would have thought. He was just debating whether he should knock on the adjoining room or leave and try his father instead when the door swished open and Jay lumbered through the door. His bodyguard had an arm wrapped around his waist, supporting his weight. Zane leaped to his feet in respect and tried to not to openly show his shock. What in the name of all the stars had happened to Forrest? Was he ill? His face was completely drained of color, and his forehead was shiny with sweat. His bodyguard eased him into the chair facing Zane.
“Thank you, Nelson. That will be all,” Forrest said in a hoarse, crackling voice. Nelson dipped his head once and then moved back to stand by the wall, his gaze on Zane again. Obviously, he considered Zane the most likely threat in the room. Turning his eyes back to Forrest, Zane had to disagree. Something was already seriously wrong with Jimmy’s father.
“You have word?” asked Forrest in his dry, rustling voice.
Zane jerked to attention. “Ye-yes. A ransom demand that so far looks legitimate. It came with a vid, but I haven’t confirmed yet if the children in the vid are Jimmy’s. I thought you might be able to tell.” He rose from his chair, noting that Nelson took a step closer. Pulling his flipcom out, he handed it to Forrest. “It’s on the top screen,” he said, waiting while Forrest watched it silently.
He replayed it a secon
d time, and then a third. “I am almost positive the little girl is Beryl,” Forrest said finally, his voice troubled. “I cannot tell if the boy is Erik. Have you sent it to James? He would recognize his own son, I think, even in the midst of a tantrum.” A faint smile tugged at Forrest’s mouth.
“I haven’t,” Zane admitted. “I wanted to be sure before I raised Jimmy’s hopes. I’m not even sure he would accept a comm from me. He isn’t exactly speaking to me at the moment,” he added wryly.
Forrest refrained from responding to this comment—whether because he privately agreed that Jimmy had reason to distrust Zane or because he couldn’t get enough breath to speak, Zane couldn’t be positive. He coughed violently, his whole frame heaving. Nelson started forward, but Forrest waved him back. The fit finally subsided, and Forrest blotted his mouth with a handkerchief.
“What are they asking?” he continued hoarsely, as if the uncontrollable coughing was not worthy of attention.
“They want the specs to the local gate,” Zane replied.
Forrest steepled his fingers and his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Did they give a deadline?”
“No,” Zane said, double-checking the text. “That’s odd. Usually a demand has one. They’ll want us to act quickly so we don’t have time to work around them.”
“They know we will act quickly anyway,” Forrest commented, tapping his fingers against his chin. “The children are very young and much loved.” His voice grew gruff. “They will pay for this.”
There was a moment of silence while Forrest stared at the floor.
“Should I comm Jimmy then?” Zane asked, part of him hoping that Forrest would offer to do it himself. It was, after all, his own son. Surely he’d want to be the one to tell him?
“Yes. I need to talk to Lev about the ransom demand.” He sighed heavily. “I wish Jaxon had never invented the gate. I wish it had stayed just a theory in his head.”
“What?” Zane was startled. “When it will make us one of the wealthiest, most powerful companies in the galaxy?”
Forrest raised his eyes to Zane’s. Zane was startled to see that they were brimming with unshed tears. “When you reach my age, Zane Quintan, you may decide that wealth and power are not worth losing everyone you love.”
●●●
Jay Forrest’s words repeated in Zane’s head as he headed back down to his office. Were power and wealth worth losing everyone you loved? The question seemed pointless to Zane. Poor, powerless people could lose everyone they loved too. However, with wealth and power, you could sometimes prevent it.
The worst of all options was to lose all your wealth, power, and the people you loved. Zane knew that firsthand; he had lived it on Kirtuth.
He had just reached his office and was steeling himself to comm Jimmy when he received another urgent comm from security.
“Mr. Quintan!” the guard’s voice was high and tense. “We received a deadline for the ransom demand.” Zane frowned. Now? Had they forgotten to send it with the first comm? Were they dealing with amateurs? Could he work that to their advantage?
“Yes? How much time do we have?” Zane asked briskly.
“Twenty minutes. And . . .and they are demanding that you deliver it personally.”
Zane froze midstep. For a moment he forgot even to breathe. “Are you certain?” he finally asked, bewildered. “They want the ransom delivered by me?”
“Yes, it specifically says Zane Quintan,” the guard repeated.
Not good. This was not good at all.
●●●
Fifteen minutes later, Zane stood arguing with Moriel and Lev in the security office. “You can’t do this!” argued Moriel hotly. “This is a trap! We all know this!”
“Of course it’s a trap,” retorted Zane as he snapped a third gun into his shoulder holster. “Something is going to go terribly wrong, and it’ll be set up to look like it’s all my fault.”
“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t go! Playing into their hands won’t do us any good at all.” Zane glanced up at his sister and was surprised to see the shine of tears in her eyes. This wasn’t just about business. She was worried. Perhaps even terrified. Perhaps his sister still had a heart somewhere under that rock-hard facade.
“Moriel,” he said, his tone kinder. “At least we know it’s a trap walking in. But we have a chance, a real chance to get those kids back. We can’t pass it up.” He readjusted the lower strap of his body armor, shifting it so that it fit more closely.
Their father spoke up at last. “I’m concerned that they are not actually the Forrest children.”
Zane frowned. “But Jay—Mr. Forrest said that they were. At least he was pretty sure the girl was. What’s her name again?”
“Beryl,” his father reminded, his frown deepening. “You do not even know the children’s names, Zane. You have never seen them in person.”
“What do you want me to do then? Stay here? See if they’ll take someone else instead?” Zane shook his head as he switched on the tiny communicator gem pierced to his ear. “You don’t know them. Mr. Forrest has never seen the children in person either, even if he was well enough to make the transfer. Jimmy is in Tarentino Bay. Who else could do it? You want to comm Admiral Donnell and see if he can get here in time?”
Moriel snorted in derision.
“You are neglecting to remember an obvious ally,” his father said mildly. Suddenly, the answer struck Zane.
“Lilah Armenta? But she took the day off and left. She’s in mourning for her brother, remember?” he protested. For some reason, the idea of involving Lilah in this risky ransom exchange set his teeth on edge. She’d already been through enough.
“Does she know the children?” asked Moriel speculatively.
“Yes. She last saw them in person half a year ago, but she is positive she would know them,” their father confirmed.
“Wait. You already asked her?” Zane’s stomach plummeted.
“Ms. Armenta should arrive any minute,” his father confirmed. As if on cue, the door slid open and Lilah hurried through, panting slightly.
“I’m sorry, I got here as fast as I could,” she said breathlessly. Zane stared at her in dismay. She had put on a simple gray slimsuit, stained and with frayed cuffs. Her rainbow-dyed hair was back to its natural black and braided again. She looked ready to fade into the Red Zone shadows.
“What am I exchanging for Berry and Erik?” she asked his father briskly. She didn’t even glance Zane’s way.
Obviously she intended to go in his place.
“They want the gate plans,” Moriel explained, jumping in before Zane could protest. “We have an early set on a chip. Of course, Jaxon modified the real plans later when we ran into some difficulties with the prototype.”
“You’re passing off plans that don’t work?” Lilah raised an eyebrow.
“Do you think they will be able to tell the difference?” asked their father, the side of his mouth lifting slightly. “We thought they would work until the prototype gate kept exploding our test objects.”
Zane found his voice and stepped in front of his sister, right into Lilah’s line of sight. Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll be making the exchange, though, Lilah,” Zane explained smoothly. “They made it a condition of the ransom demand. I’ll have a camera streaming to the security office, though. If you can confirm for me that I am being given the right children over the security feed, that should work.”
“No, it won’t!” countered Moriel, her voice rising. “You need to stay here, Zane! Lilah will go!”
“It’s too dangerous for Lilah. They specifically want me. We can’t risk the deal falling apart because I stay home,” Zane retorted.
“Have you thought about what kind of reaction you are going to get from the kids when one group of strangers tries to send them with another stranger?” Lilah interjected. “Berry mig
ht get hysterical, and who knows what Erik will do. It’s better if I go. At least they know me. Well, Berry will remember me, and I can cope with Erik,” she amended.
“I can’t let you do this,” Zane said.
“Can’t?” repeated Lilah angrily, her eyes blazing.
Zane’s father held up his arms, and all three of them fell silent. Zane pursed his lips impatiently. They didn’t have time for this! He needed to be headed out right now, or he would be late.
“Zane, you will take the chip and make the exchange,” he said, his voice calm. Zane smiled triumphantly. “Ms. Armenta, you will accompany him and take charge of the children,” he added.
“What?” exclaimed Zane in dismay.
“We do not have time to discuss it further. If they object to the two of you going together, break off the exchange.”
Zane took a deep breath and shoved down any further arguments. His father was correct. They were out of time. He would just have to do his best to keep Lilah safe.
“We will be in the security HQ following along,” his father said. “You know the code words. We will provide all the support that we can.”
Zane nodded and turned to Lilah. “Are you armed?”
She stared at him as if he had lost his mind. “Does the sun set in the west?” she said at last. “This is the Red Zone, Zane.”
Dumb question then. This woman had grown up in far more ruthless circumstances than Zane. How did he keep forgetting that? He took the chip pouch that Moriel silently proffered him and then pulled her close into a hug. “It’s going to be OK, Moriel,” he whispered.
“They are going to destroy you, Zane,” she mumbled back. “We’ll lose you again.”
“We’ll fix it,” he promised, as he let her go. “Whatever happens, we’ll fix it.”
Rift (Roran Curse Book 3) Page 24
